Monday, March 3, 2014

"Murder in Pigalle"

Cara Black is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 14 books in the Private Investigator Aimée Leduc series, which is set in Paris. Murder in Pigalleis the latest installment. Black has received multiple nominations for the Anthony and Macavity Awards, a Washington Post Book World Book of the Year citation, the Médaille de la Ville de Paris—the Paris City Medal, which is awarded in recognition of contribution to international culture—and invitations to be the Guest of Honor at conferences such as the Paris Polar Crime Festival and Left Coast Crime. With more than 400,000 books in print, the Aimée Leduc series has been translated into German, Norwegian, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew.

“Everything’s complicated with all the out-of-towners here for the World Cup.” Madame Pelletier leaned forward. “Here’s a little advice for a woman in your condition...”

“My condition?” Aimée sat up. Cut the condescending merde, she almost said. “I’m pregnant-not ill.” Apart from morning sickness, cravings for kiwis and cornichons, her swelling ankles and that terror waking her up in the middle of the night.

Page 69 finds us in the middle of a scene at the Commissariat where Aimée’s being questioned by Madame Pelletier, a policewoman in the Child Protective Services Squad. Reading just the page would make you wonder why Aimée, pregnant, has been brought to the Commissariat. Zazie, the 13-year-old daughter of Aimée’s local cafe owners, has disappeared and a serial rapist is on the loose attacking young girls in the quartier.

There’s a back and forth between them while Aimée’s pressing Madame Pelletier to investigate a lead to Zazie she’s found so far, and Pelletier is telling her to back off -- leave it alone, we’ll handle the investigation, you’re in the way. While not representative of the story, it illustrates the background it’s set against -- Paris in the hot summer of 1998 during the World Cup in France -- the city’s got World Cup Fever and a serial rapist has struck again.